Human and animal attacks by pit bulls/bully breeds listed by State and by Country. Updated daily because the maulings and fatalities are daily.

ALABAMA ATTACKS SINCE 11/13/09

FEB. 9, 2010http://www.enewscourier.com/local/local_story_040094150.html About letter carriers, it is sometimes said, that neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.The saying makes no mention of pit bulls. Maybe it should. Donna Wheat of Athens said she was walking her dogs — a little white Maltese named Mollie and a brown and tan Yorkipoo named Reece — on North Beaty Street on Saturday morning, when her small dogs began barking at a pit bull terrier on the loose. As Wheat’s dogs worked themselves into a frenzy, they wrapped themselves around a tree, leaving Wheat to try to untangle them while, at the same time, keeping her eyes on the pit bull. The pit bull suddenly charged her and knocked her to the ground. “As I got back up, all I could think about was my little dogs,” Wheat said. “I knew that if it got a hold of one of them, that was it.”This is where “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat …” comes in. Letter carrier Roy Neutze saw the pit bull topple Wheat, so he picked up a stick and came after it. A neighbor joined in the standoff against the dog, and the pit bull backed off. The police were called and the owner found. Apparently, the pit bull had gotten out of its fenced yard. Wheat wanted to thank her letter carrier for being there. “It was just wonderful,” she said. Still, she wonders if she did anything to provoke the pit bull, such as make eye contact with it. Although many people believe pit bull breeds are more likely than others to bite, the American Veterinary Medical Association says there is little scientific evidence to support the claim. The association offers this advice if you are threatened by a dog: • Don’t turn and run. • Avoid eye contact• Don’t scream or yell — speak calmly and firmly. WITH THE AVMA QUOTE, YOU THINK THIS REPORTER IS DRINKING THE PIT NUTTER KOOLAID??

April 12, 2010http://www.cbs42.com/content/localnews/story/Dog-Attacks/yeRpEs1ZyEmdKQYFX5s85w.cspx It's happening more and more in our community. Stray dogs attacking people and their pets.What would you do if a vicious dog came after you on your property?Toto is recovering monday after a scary situation. Vet bills indicate Toto suffered a hard hit to her muzzle and leg from a neighbor's pit bull. Barbara Hill is terrified. She tells me us a neighborhood pit bull attacked her dog, costing her hundreds of dollars in vet bills. "She heard her dog in the back yard barking and she went out and a pit bull that got into her fence and got her little dog, so she got a shovel and she beat him and she beat him and he would not let her dog go," says Belinda White. Belinda White says she suffered a similar attack in her fairfield neighborhood sunday evening. "I looked up and I see a pit bull running across my neighbors yard towards me the only thing I had in my hand was my wallet and my keys."White ran into the house and called the police, but she isn't sure it's enough. "These are vicious dogs and people need to be accountable for their dogs." These kind of dog attacks are preventable, we went to the local animal control center to learn how. "When a dog is approaching you and you're not sure the temperament of the dog, it's better to be safe than sorry. Take cover and if you think there is some real risk involved, give us a call," says Phil Doster with the BJC Animal Control Shelter. Doster says it's not just pit bulls that can attack unsuspecting victims. "It really doesn't depend on the breed, it's more about the ownership of the animal and how they are raised and trained." Doster says ownership responsibility is crucial. "If you treat them and teach them to be aggressive then that is how they are going to be." Animal control was able to pick up the pit bull who attacked Toto. Toto's owner, isn't sure who the pit bull belongs to, but she hopes it will be a lesson to everyone in her neighborhood. ANOTHER NUTTER IN ANIMAL CONTROL.

April 13, 2010http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=12304769 TONEY, AL (WAFF) - A two-year-old is in the hospital after a dog attack Monday afternoon in Toney. The Madison County Animal Control director says the child will likely have a long recovery because the attack was so intense, but at last check, he's in fair condition in pediatric intensive care. As the weather gets warmer, animal control expects their call volume to go up."My husband, he stayed up all night worried about that little boy because he's only two," neighbor Catherine Womack told WAFF 48 News, recalling what she and her husband saw coming home from work that made them stop in the middle of the road.Animal Control Director Mike Fritz says the two-year-old was playing outside with the family's pet pit bull, which was tied to a chain in the yard when the dog attacked."Face, arms, and legs is what I understand," Fritz said."We saw the lady running down the road with her baby in her arm and he wasn't breathing and his little sister was right beside them," Womack said.The couple tried to help as paramedics rushed to the home. Womack was told it took five minutes for the mom to get her son loose from the animal."The little girl said that they were out there playing and all the sudden the dog pushed her brother down and started biting him in his face," said Womack.The neighbor tells WAFF 48 News the brown pit bull has attacked other dogs before and often runs loose."It's been a real issue since we moved here and we haven't even lived here that long," Amanda Wallace, who also lives nearby, said.Wallace claims the family's white pit bull also has too much freedom."It's chased my little girl, which is 17 months old and we take of three other girls that are three, five, and six, and we can't even go out there, because every time we go out there, the dog wants to run up in the yard and growl at them," Wallace said."Just supervise," Fritz stated. "Small children like to hug and that's all fine and dandy as long as that particular animal is going to allow that and some don't."Any breed has the potential to be aggressive, but Fritz says the best pets are socialized ones that interact with different people and animals."If you're not familiar with an animal stay away from them," Fritz said. "That's the biggest advice I can give."Information on this case will be forwarded to the health department, whose job is to contact the owner. The owner is required to either quarantine the animal for a 10 day observation period or have the animal euthanized and sent to the state lab for rabies testing.Fritz was under the impression the dog will be euthanized.The child's mother was contacted by phone about his condition and the statements made by her neighbors. She did not wish to comment.Experts say dogs can bite for the following reasons: fear, surprise, excitement, pain, sickness, or protecting property.Fritz says to avoid a dog that's eating or with its puppies. BUT MOMMY, I THOUGHT IT WAS A NANNY DOG.

May 18, 2010http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/alabama_news_links_florala_sex.html Auburn officer attacked by pitbull during arrest Sunday: Deardre Marcel Rush, 28, of Auburn, verbally ordered or instructed a pit bull to become aggressive and bite an arresting officer on Sunday as police were trying to arrest a man on a probation violation charge, the Opelika-Auburn News reports. at approximately 3:28 p.m. Sunday to execute a felony arrest warrant for a probation violation. When police attempted to arrest Sylvester Deshone Turk, 28, of Tuskegee, Rush gave the animal an attack command, officers said. The officer bitten was not seriously injured. CAN YOU IMAGINE USING A POODLE AS A WEAPON?

May 17, 2010http://www2.oanow.com/oan/news/local/article/auburn_police_officer_attacked_by_dog_during_arrest/154074/ An Auburn man was arrested Sunday after ordering a pit bull to attack an Auburn police officer making an arrest at a residence on Lee Road 12.According to Auburn police, officers responded to a residence in the 1600 block of Lee Road 12 at approximately 3:28 p.m. Sunday to execute a felony arrest warrant for a probation violation. When they attempted to arrest Sylvester Deshone Turk, 28, of Tuskegee, in accordance with the warrant, he physically resisted and a brief altercation ensued.Turk was eventually taken into custody and charged with the original probation violation, as well as resisting arrest, according to an APD release.While Turk was being arrested, another occupant of the residence, Deardre Marcel Rush, 28, of Auburn, verbally ordered or instructed a pit bull to become aggressive and bite the arresting officer on the leg, the release states.Auburn police say the officer was not seriously injured in the attack. Rush was subsequently charged with second-degree assault against a law enforcement officer.Both Turk and Rush were transported to the Lee County Detention Facility without incident. The dog was taken by a Lee County animal control officer to be evaluated. WHO NEEDS A GUN WHEN YOU HAVE A PIT AS A WEAPON.

May 20, 2010http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/05/maplesville_boy_badly_injured.htmlAn 11-year-old Maplesville boy is in Birmingham's Children's Hospital after being attacked Wednesday evening by a neighobor's dog, the Clanton Advertiser reports.The dog, described as a boxer/bull mastiff mix, bit the youth on the throat and injured its owner who aided the boy, Police Chief Todd Ingam said. The dog attacked the boy whose name was not released after another youngster accidently let the dog escape, according to the newspaper. Officers shot the dog. THE BULLY BREEDS.